New York -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Police are investigating the slaying of a 32-year-old man in the Greenwich Village neighborhood early Saturday as a hate crime because the gunman made multiple anti-gay comments , they said .

It is at least the fourth violent attack in two weeks believed to be motivated by anti-gay bias , police said .

The suspect 's anti-gay remarks were noted before the shooting took place , Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said . The man was seen urinating on the street outside a bar before going inside and making anti-gay comments to the bartender and brandishing a silver handgun .

A little after midnight , the gunman and two other companions confronted the victim , Marc Carson , and another man he was with on the street . The suspect reportedly made anti-gay remarks and asked them whether they were `` gay wrestlers , '' Kelly said .

Carson and the other man turned toward the taunts , but backed down and kept walking away . They did n't know it , Kelly said , but the suspect followed them .

The gunman confronted the two men again , before shooting Carson in the face , police said .

Carson was pronounced dead on arrival at Beth Israel Hospital .

Around 4 a.m. , a police officer , responding to a radio alert of the shooting , came across the alleged gunman and apprehended him . The suspect turned over a silver Taurus .38 - caliber six-shot revolver , according to police .

Police later identified the suspect as Elliot Morales , 33 . Police said the suspect had forged identification and they used facial recognition technology to determine his true identity .

Morales faces a charge of second-degree murder as a hate crime , authorities said .

The identities of the suspect 's two companions -- at least one of whom Kelly said left the suspect before the shooting -- are still not known .

Kelly said that the killing appeared to be `` a hate crime , a bias crime . '' There were no words that would aggravate the situation , and the victim did not know the perpetrator , he said .

According to Kelly , there have been 22 bias-motivated events this year . That 's up `` significantly '' from 13 this time last year .

On May 10 , five men brutally beat two gay men near Madison Square Garden after the couple was denied entry into an after-hours billiards bar , according to Port Authority Police . The victims suffered severe facial injuries . Police were able to arrest two of the five men ; the rest fled the scene .

On May 8 , another gay man was assaulted by two men shouting anti-gay slurs as he left a bar in Manhattan 's West Village , New York Police said .

There was another attack on gay men on May 5 , outside of Madison Square Garden following a New York Knicks game . One of the victims told CNN affiliate WCBS he believes the attack was n't an isolated incident .

`` There is no words to describe the pain , 'cause this was not an attack on us , this was an attack on all of us , '' he said .

Kelly said authorities do not believe the acts are connected , but the investigations are ongoing .

`` It 's not a pattern , '' he said , `` but something that concerns us . ''

Suspect in burnings of Jewish scrolls charged with hate crimes

CNN 's Alcione Gonzalez contributed to this report .

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Man gunned down on Greenwich Village street

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Suspect allegedly made anti-gay remarks

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Bias attacks up significantly , police commissioner says